Leveraging social media can be overwhelming to any foodservice operator. As Josh Graff, director of Marketing Solutions for LinkedIn, puts it: “Social media is like teenage sex, everyone wants to do it. When they do they’re a bit disappointed, but they practise and it gets much better.”

Consider nine tips to guide your company’s growth

TORONTO — Starbucks Canada has launched its mobile payment iPhone app.

The app was created to provide faster and more convenient way to shop for coffee and allows customers to pay for coffee purchases from their iPhone, check their Starbucks card balance, reload their Starbucks Card account with any major credit card, find nearby Starbucks stores, access food and beverage nutrition information and search for a job at the company.

TORONTO — Smartphone-wielding university students will be the first to experience Push a Deal, the new mobile service that alerts users to a deal when they are within the participating business’ vicinity.

In a partnership between contract caterers Aramark Canada and the University of Toronto, students at the St. George campus will be the first to receive deals on their smartphones for foodservice locations in their area.